‘Breaking Bad’ Writer and ‘Snow White’ Director Team Up for ’90 Church’

AMC’s meth lab drama Breaking Bad has steadily been building up its viewer base, thanks largely to word of mouth and to the fact that episodes are available on Netflix for those who want to catch up on the show. This was reflected in the most recent ratings; nearly six million people tuned in to watch the mid-season premiere of Breaking Bad on Sunday – a huge step up from the average of one million viewers who were watching season 1 when it first aired.

Since the fifth season will also be the final one, the talent of Breaking Bad is now moving on to other projects. Bryan Cranston is starring in Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla reboot, Aaron Paul is taking the lead in DreamWorks’ Need for Speed adaptation, and executive producer and writer George Mastras is moving on to a movie project of his own.

Last year, Universal Pictures acquired the film rights to former Federal Bureau of Narcotics agent Dean Unkefer’s memoir, “90 Church: The True Story of the Narcotics Squad from Hell,” and Variety reports that the studio has now hired Mastras to adapt the book into a screenplay. Directing the film is Snow White and the Huntsman‘s Rupert Sanders, who is also attached to an adaptation of Alfred Bester’s sci-fi love story The Juliet.

Mastras’ writing credits on Breaking Bad include season 4 episodes “Crawl Space” and “Thirty-Eight Snub,” as well as the upcoming season 5 episode “To’hajiilee.” He also wrote a couple of episodes of the sadly short-lived supernatural detective show The Dresden Files, which was based on Jim Butcher’s book series of the same name.

Sanders has been attached to direct90 Church since last summer, and at the time we speculated that the director’s decision not to return for the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman sequel was influenced by his desire to move on to 90 Church instead. It’s probably advisable for him to move on to a radically different project from his first at this point in his career, and it doesn’t hurt that he’ll be working with a script from one of the writers and producers of such a fan-favorite show.

Does this writer-director team pique your interest in 90 Church? Let us know what you think of Universal’s choice of screenwriter in the comments.

90 Churchdoesn’t yet have a release date yet but we’ll keep you updated on its development.